USD Track & Field: Men set sights on elusive league outdoor title

USD's Kyle McKelvey releases a throw during the shot put competition at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays earlier this month. McKelvey and the Coyotes are shooting for a first Summit League outdoor track and field title.(Photo: Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader)

VERMILLION – The University of South Dakota men’s track team defended its Summit League indoor championship in February, but this weekend the squad will be aspiring to post a slightly different kind of repeat.

Winning the indoor title two years in a row is no longer on the Coyote to-do list as a Summit member, but winning the indoor and outdoor team titles in the same year would be new territory.

Beginning on Thursday in Fargo, the Coyotes will try to accomplish that, though they’ll be severely challenged by a North Dakota State program that has won the last four Summit outdoor meets. USD has finished in second place the past two years.

“Even though we’ve won the last two indoor titles, I think NDSU has been the best team in the conference because they’ve won the outdoor meet,” said USD junior hurdler Erik Hill, who is ranked in the top five in both the 110-meter and 400-meter races. “If we could win an outdoor title, we could finally say that we’re the best.”

The Coyotes have reason to talk about feeling they can compete with the Bison for the top spot on the men’s side, but are a long way from predicting it will happen. Injuries have cut down on their depth which means more responsibilities for the able-bodied who will be making the trip.

USD will go into the meet with the top effort in 11 different events, led by Teivaskie Lewin, who is best in the 200 meters and the 110 hurdles. Other USD runners with the top times are Jeff Mettler (steeplechase), Brant Haase (5,000) and Mubarik Musa (10,000).

In the field events, the Coyotes have the top marks from Jeff O’Connell (long jump), Kyle McKelvey (shot put), Dustin Valind (discus) and Kyle Ballew (pole vault). USD also has the best times in the 400 relay and the 1,600 relay.

“We’ve got some really good upper-level talent,” men’s coach Dave Gottsleben said. “We should have five or six or seven kids going to the first round (of the NCAA West Region Preliminary). We’re asking those athletes to do a lot at this meet where we usually wouldn’t ask kids to do that much. It may affect their performance at the conference meet – they may not run as fast as they normally would but they’re willing to give that up to see how many points we can score.”

It will be the last team meet for Mettler, the Eureka distance runner who will leave as one of the school’s best ever.

“In years past at the outdoor meets, I thought we had a shot,” said Mettler, who has won the Summit steeplechase two times. “But I think this year we really know that if we perform well, we have a chance to win. I think the attitude might be a little different because of that.”

That attitude, as Gottsleben alluded to, will measure success via points scored to a much greater degree than usual.

“A normal meet, my main deal is the shot put and the other things are kind of a side activity,” said McKelvey, the former Beresford standout who won the Summit outdoor title in the event last spring. “This weekend the discus and the hammer throw are just as important. If I can get 20 total points out of those three events that would be just as fun for me as throwing 60 feet in the shot.”

The USD women, who finished in second behind NDSU in 2012 and 2013, will be severely slowed by injuries in the meet, but will, much like the men, be asking more of the remaining athletes.

National champion pole vaulter Bethany Firsick is injured and fellow national title contender Emily Grove is redshirting. Megan Glisar, an All-American in the high jump, is also redshirting and several others who would normally be mentioned as potential event winners will be on the sidelines.

“It’s the conference meet – every other team has injuries, too,” women’s coach Lucky Huber said. “So we just have to go out and see if we can get through it. In some ways it is an opportunity for someone else to step up and that’s what we’ve challenged this group to do. We don’t have some of our kids so somebody else gets to be the champion in the pole vault and somebody else gets to be the champion in the long jump.”

USD will be well-represented in distance events led by Amber Eichkorn, who has the top time in the 5,000 and 10,000, and Katie Wetzstein has the second-best time in the 1,500. Even with the injuries in the pole vault, USD have the top three efforts in the event led by Madison Mills. Breanna Janovy has the second-best discus throw and Meghan Dennis is second in the javelin.

Freshman Danielle Waldner, who a year ago at this time was winning the shot put for Redfield High School at the state meet, has the top effort in that event in the conference.

“We have good runners, good throwers, good jumpers, good pole vaulters – there is a lot more of a team aspect for a meet like this than most of the meets in high school,” said Waldner, who won five state high school titles. “Everything you do you’re doing because you want to see the team do well.”

When/where: Thursday through Saturday in Fargo.

Online: Get updates from the meet at argusleader.com and by following @Argus_Sports on Twitter.

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